You can actually cultivate your communion with God as you’re walking down the street. I’m using a very specific analogy: in The Everyday Sanyasin we talked about the Everyday Sanyasin walking down the street in communion with god, radiating that beauty, that love, and that compassion. Now we’ve come all the way back around, where you can do that. The beauty of this is that it’s not an exclusive club. As I cultivate certain qualities in my life, and as I take the opportunity in quiet moments to cultivate a joyful, creative openness of my heart, those qualities will radiate from meeven as I’m walking down the street.
So part of this also, then, is claiming it. By claiming it, I mean saying that it’s mine, saying I can do this, and knowing that it’s part of me. These are things to remember, these are things to be fastidious about, and it seems these are things to get in the habit of doing.
‘Being it’ occurs not in big, dramatic circumstances and situations. ‘Being it’ occurs in little ways. ‘Being it’ occurs when you get up in the morning, you’re just sitting there, you suddenly realize that you’re not really focusing on anything, and you decide to sing a song to your Deitynot because you have to, but because in taking that unproductive moment and using it to do Deity Yoga, you’re interjecting into your being the habit of opening up to God as often as possible.
In other words, you’re beginning to habituate yourself to being with God as opposed to being in reactivity.
Yogi Sean is the student of Swami Ramananda and the author of Dancing in the Fire of Transformation and The Everyday Sanyasin.
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| 05.16.08 | Comments Off |
The uniqueness of the Gospel…
Pastor Terry Dashner (www.ffcba.com)
There is one message that is relevant for all times. It was
yesterday’s news. It is today’s news. And it will be tomorrow’s
news also. It is the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are
three things that make this message unique. For one, its power
makes it unique. Secondly, its content makes it unique. And
thirdly, its method of delivery makes it unique.
Let’s look at these three traits.
For one its power makes it unique. Romans 1:16-17 says, “For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek. (17) For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith.”
The word power comes from the Greek word, dunamis. Dunamis is
where we get our English word for dynamite. The power of the
dynamite is intrinsic and must be released. According to
scholars the phrase, power of God, is a unique construction of
the original language. It essentially means two things in one.
The Gospel is powerful and it is from God. It is the only “news”
past, present, or future that can deliver a person from sin and
its punishment to eternal life and reward. And its power is
released when it is presented and received.
The story is told about a family who took their two young
children to see Carlsbad Caverns. As is typical of the tour and
when the family reached the bottom of the canyon, the tour guide
turned out the lights to dramatize the darkness and silence
below the earth’s surface. After being enveloped in darkness for
a couple of minutes, one of the children began to cry. The
parents took the child in their arms to comfort her. As they
reassured her, her older brother blurted out, “Don’t cry sis.
Somebody down here knows how to turn the lights on.” This is a
good illustration of the Gospel’s power. It, and it alone, is
able to “turn on the light” in the midst of overwhelming
darkness and despair.
The second unique quality about the Gospel is its content. I
Corinthians 15:3-4 Paul writes, “For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures:” The Gospel’s content is short and sweet. It’s not
an elaborate theology explained, or a lofty hypothesis exerted.
It is simply a declaration of truth presented that breaks
Satan’s hold on men.
There are three key elements in the Gospel’s content. First,
Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sin. This He
did because it was prophesied throughout the Old Testament. The
Bible speaks clearly of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) who
would come in to the world to suffer and die as a sacrificial
lamb of slaughter. Another key element is the fact that Jesus
was buried. In other words, He died and was put away forever.
When He died, my old nature of sin died with Him (Galatians
2:20). He died a vicarious death. He died in my place. I was the
one who was guilty and needed to die. But Christ died for me. By
placing my faith in the Gospel, I died with Him. My sin was
destroyed. My sickness and pains were forever judged defeated
foes. Then thirdly, Jesus arose from the dead. In other words,
death could not hold Him. And although death will one day claim
me, it will not hold me in the grave. The Spirit of God who
raised Jesus from the dead will raise me up from the grave also.
I now live by resurrection power!
The Gospel content is concise and powerful with its three
points. Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. And He arose on
the third day just as the Bible had predicted for centuries.
The third unique quality about the Gospel is its method of
delivery. It is to be proclaimed by word and action. In Romans
10:14-15 says, “How then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard? And How shall they hear without a preacher?
(15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is
written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
Whether we package the message in drama, picture, or words its
power is released when we go forth and present it. We need not
add anything to the message. We simply preach the
message–testify to its power by living it–and the message does
all the rest. It is the message that saves the sinner, not the
medium in which it is given. Again, I can preach it from the
pulpit. I can dramatize it in a skit in the park. I can paint
its message as a mural on a wall. No matter which medium I may
choose to present the Gospel, it is the message itself that
breaks the holds of sin.
This is certainly illustrated well with the Passion of the
Christ. The message was presented in media format for a visual
effect. The language spoken by the actors was not English and
yet thousands were powerfully moved by the movie’s message–the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. The three point Gospel carries all the
power needed to change the heart of man.
In conclusion remember this. The Gospel is unique within itself.
It does not need novelty to make it appropriate for the modern
man. We need to preach it. We need to live it. We need to
embrace it always. The Gospel or Good News is that Jesus died
for our sins on the Cross as the Bible had predicted long before
it became a fact of history. He was buried in a tomb. On the
third day, He arose from the grave by the power of the Holy
Spirit to live forevermore. You may tell the story. You may
demonstrate the story. You may paint a canvass with the story,
but it is the message that breaks the back of the devil and
frees men from their sins.
Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming again.
Pastor T.
Elijah the prophet came from nowhere…he burst on the scene
when he said these words “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of
the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of
Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor
rain these years, but according to my word.” (1 Kings 17 v 1)
After he made this prophetic utterance, the Lord told him to go
hide by the brook, the Lord told him he would drink from the
brook, and the ravens would feed him. Elijah went and did
according to what the LORD told him. After awhile, the brook
dried up because of no rain, then the LORD told Elijah to go to
Zarephath and a widow woman would sustain him. He went according
to the word of the LORD, but the widow woman was down to just a
handful of meal (because of the famine). Then Elijah had a word
from the LORD “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall
the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain
upon the earth” (I Kings 17 v 14).
Mind you, Elijah was hidden in obscurity….by the brook and
with the widow woman and her son (that Elijah raised from the
dead). The LORD was with him, and sustaining him until the
proper time came.
Then that day came, and Elijah came out from retirement, from
being hidden in obscurity to being widely known. “And it came to
pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah
in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I
will send rain upon the earth.” (1 Kings 18 v 1).
This morning, I was talking to the LORD and I had told him I
felt like Elijah when he was hidden by the brook. I was praying
and asking the LORD for understanding, and direction, and
suddenly, I heard a song playing on my radio, named “By the
Brook”, a song about Elijah and the time he spent hidden by the
brook. The LORD said, “Stay by the brook until the time comes,
though it tarries, it will surely come”.
There are many in obscurity, that the world knows little about,
but are the “Apples” of God’s eyes. I say unto all of these,
that your time hidden by the brook is not in vain, and at the
proper time, the LORD will give direction and say, “Come out of
retirement, I have a mission for you to do”.
Psalm 105 v 19 “Until the time that his word came: the word of
the LORD tried him.”
Irvin L. Rozier aka walkin2e
Kingdom of Heaven is Ridley Scott’s way of trying to recapture the success of Gladiator and to turn Orlando Bloom into the international sensation and instant leading man that Crowe became after is Oscar winning performance in that Gladiator. I don’t fault Bloom for trying. I know he had to be thinking how could he lose? Sure it’s an epic drama and none of the other recently released historical epics (including his Troy) have come anywhere near the success of Gladiator, but Dreams has Ridley Scott, Gladiator’s mastermind at the helm, he couldn’t go wrong…right? Well, that’s not exactly what happened. See someone forgot to tell Orlando that he’s not Russell Crowe. And while he looked damn good in those elf ears, it takes much more then a pretty face to pull off an epic drama the likes of Kingdom of Heaven and unfortunately for us all Bloom just doesn’t have it.
I hate to criticize Orlando. I do. I think he’s gorgeous and love to watch him on the big screen and he’s not a bad actor he just doesn’t have the acting chops or the screen presence to be convincing as the salvation of a nation. Heaven tells the story of Balian (Bloom) a lowly blacksmith who has lost his child and then his wife to suicide. He soon learns he has a nobleman for a father who has returned to recruit him on his journey to go and fight the holy Crusades and save Jerusalem from falling back into the hands of the Muslims led by the historic military leader Saladin. Agreeing to go in hopes of being able to atone for his wife’s suicide, he soon learn that knowing one’s enemy isn’t as clear as knowing where your religious beliefs lie.
Outside of Bloom not having what it takes to carry the roll of Balian, Heaven doesn’t work because the story is choppy and unclear. Scott decides to tell several stories: the jockeying for power amongst the Christians, the tenuous treaty between King Leopold and Saladin, Saladin and his relationship with his people, and an unnecessary love story that only seems to be there so there can be an excuse to see a semi-nude Orlando and instead of seeming interesting and entertaining it all just came across as one big convoluted mess.
Instead of all of these mini tales the movie would have been much more interesting had it just focused on Saladin’s and Balian’s grudging but shared respect for one another and the battle over Jerusalem. Instead we are left with a lot of unnecessary screen time filled by boring sub-plots and a badly used Edward Norton who is stuck behind a tin mask mumbling for a good portion of the movie. Talk about bad use of an actor, Norton would have made a much better Balianl then Bloom and might have been able to stir up some emotions and excitement where Orlando could not.
Despites these gaffes, Kingdom of Heaven does offer some notable performances namely Jeffrey Irons who plays Tiberius a battle weary Sheriff of Jerusalem and commander of his own troops who is vehemently opposed to breaking the treaty they have with Saladin and David Thewalis the Hospitaler and Balian’s father’s friend and subsequently the one who helps Balian become the man his father wanted him to be.
While relatively entertaining, Kingdom of Heaven is ultimately a disappointment. I expected more out of Bloom but I really expected a great deal more out of Scott, after all he is the guy who brought us Gladiator and help turn Russell Crowe into a house hold name. Unfortunately, for everyone Kingdom of Heaven is no Gladiator.
Tamika Johnson is a freelance writer and owner of PrologueReviews.com. To read more reviews by Tamika or to have your book, movie or film reviewed visit http://www.prologuereviews.com